It means, don’t criminalize Kuwaiti’s symbol 88

NEO-NAZIS use the number 88 as abbreviation for HH, as H is the eighth letter in the alphabet. Therefore, 88 represents HH — the short form of the Nazi salute, ‘Heil Hitler’.

This salutation is banned and criminalized by most laws in modern countries due to the humanitarian atrocities committed by the Nazis that reached the peak during the Second World War under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. These atrocities resulted in the killing of millions of people, as well as massive destruction and losses which humankind has never experienced in history.

Nazism is a fascist, racist and anti-Semitic ideology. It massacred many ethnicities, especially the Jews, in what is known as the Holocaust. However, the most dangerous aspect of Nazism is its ideology on the supreme race — the Aryan — which is used to refer to Germanic supremacy.

This is in addition to its degradation of other ethnicities, up to the point of annihilating them. It has been said that Nazis categorized Arabs to be on the level before the monkeys. Last week, the Criminal Court in Austria charged one of its citizens with posting photos depicting glorification of the Nazi regime, including the picture of a cat which looked like it was making the banned Nazi salute.

The Public Prosecution asked the court to impose the harshest punishment, since the Austrian laws consider glorification of the Nazi a criminal act. Investigations revealed the accused has been posting photos, signs and symbols, which give the impression that he supports the Nazi regime, on social media for two years; in addition to using the number 88.

I dedicate this story to our legislators in the Parliament and government, as some courts acquitted people who belong to the movement, which is similar to the Nazi movement — DAESH (ISIL). DAESH thinks those who believe in its bloody ideology are the only ones practicing proper religion. It calls for annihilation of anyone who disagrees with its religious ideology.

It calls for the killing of sects and groups of people; shedding their blood, enslaving their women and children, and selling them in the slave market. We have seen the members of this group publicly and proudly announcing their crimes The characteristics of DAESH are not different from those of the Nazi in terms of fascism, racism, marginalization and destructive ideology.

Why haven’t they been charged and prosecuted for showing their tendencies to glorify and support DAESH through their unequivocal statements? Some time ago, we witnessed some of them on social networking sites, carrying DAESH’s fl ag which is black as their hearts, supplicating and pledging allegiance to their master in crime the socalled, Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi.

They were chanting slogans on killing those who are against their master, yet no arrest orders were issued in this amazing country of Kuwait, despite the audio and image recordings. Arresting and disciplining them do not require extra efforts by the security offi cers, if only such orders were given by their leaders. Finally, several members of the Parliament presented a proposal to criminalize joining or belonging to DAESH.

Some DAESH ideology sympathizers suggested inclusion of sympathizing with Hezbollah ideology, while others added to the proposal the criminalization of sympathizing with the Brotherhood ideology… etc. In other words, for those who understand the political alphabets, ‘Do not pass the law that criminalizes DAESH’ or Kuwait’s number 88. Until when will we continue to be tolerant with the ideology which is bloody, while civilized countries have criminalized Neo-Nazism and this has been in effect for the more than seven decades?

By Ali Ahmed Al-Baghli Former Minister of Oil
Email: ali-albaghli@hotmail.com